


Give Me a Smile

by DigitalMoriarty



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben is Not Dead, F/M, Featuring Nice Guys (tm), Five Never Time Travels, OT3, Pseudo-Incest, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Vanya is a Nice Guy (tm) Magnet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 00:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19284283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalMoriarty/pseuds/DigitalMoriarty
Summary: Vanya can't help that a certain sort of man tends to be drawn to her. Luckily, she doesn't have to deal with them by herself. Five and Ben on the other hand would appreciate if a certain sort of man would leave their girlfriend alone.





	1. English 205

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter is from a different POV. This chapter was written from a Nice Guy (tm)'s POV. It was awkward to write. Hopefully it's an enjoyable read anyway.

She's in his English 205 class. Tiny and big eyed and a bit mousy and shy. Maybe a... 6? He's nice to her though, because he's a gentleman. Besides, she's not like the other thots in the class. She reads _literature_ and plays violin and doesn't know anything about any of the stuff _he_ knows. He's pretty sure he's the only guy who's ever been interested in her, which makes sense. The Chads of the world only care about looks and _he_ cares about what's inside. He even sits with her when he sees her in the dining hall, tells her about the anime he's watching and the games he's playing while they eat. And it's all going great. Well. Until they're eating together (he's been telling her about how stupid it is that they're changing his favorite game because the social justice warriors complained about something) and he hears "Vanya? Who's your friend?" and "I didn't know they let people like you off of 4chan". He whirls around to see...

A couple of Chads. One's an Asian guy wearing a hoodie and the other is taller and wearing a fucking _suit_ and he's about to tell them to back off or something when he hears her say "Ben? Five? What are you two doing here? I didn't think I'd see you until tomorrow." and _excuse you_ she was going to be hanging out with these guys tomorrow? Maybe they're in one of her other classes or something but-

"I thought it might be nice to take you to lunch, maybe get a tour of the campus since we're usually so busy when we're here? So I got Five to bring me early."

"Besides, MIT is turning out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. I already finished everything I needed to do this month, so playing taxi for Ben isn't as much of a pain as it might otherwise be."

She's _giggling_ behind her hand and smiling at them and they're _ignoring him_ and what the hell is this? He's been nice to her since class started, been _kind_ , even bought her coffee a couple of times and there's these _Chads_ because she somehow thinks she's got a chance or whatever.

"Who the hell are you two?"

The words sort of... burst out of him, almost unbidden and both men turn their attention from _her_.

The one in the hoodie gives him a polite smile and extends a hand, "Ben Hargreeves. I'm-"

The other does not bother offering his hand when he interrupts "We're former students of the Umbrella Academy. And Vanya's boyfriends. _You_ are?"

"Five, be nice."

He hardly registers her soft voice over the ringing in his ears. _Boyfriends?!_ He turns on her and she's not giggling now.

"What the _fuck_ you cu-"

He doesn't finish the word. Mostly because the suit wearing Chad (what sort of name is _Five_ anyway?) is suddenly  _right in front of him_ and looking about a half step from literal murder and that manages to filter through his rage. 

"Now, I know you weren't about to call Vanya what I think you were about to call Vanya. Because if you _were_ about to start up that bullshit, Ben would have take her off to read poetry to her under the nearest suitably picturesque tree while I got to beat you bloody and dump your unconscious body in the nearest large body of water. Which would be a shame because we promised she wouldn't have to transfer schools again. So you're going to shut the fuck up and find somewhere else to be. Sound about right?"

And the threat is issued in a voice that is somehow perfectly calm and he finds himself obeying. Because _everyone_ has heard of the Umbrella Academy and he is filled with certainty that if he _wasn't_ to obey, in the next minute Vanya would be reading poetry and he'd be getting his ass kicked. As he scrambles to grab his things, he hears " _Five_." and "What, at least my methods are more contained. Or did you want _Ben_ losing his temper?" but he doesn't look back.


	2. Move Your Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A vacation from Nice Guy POV (before we have to head back to it again). Thanks to the two people from the Fiveya server who volunteered to be my sacrificial lambs in reading the initial version of this! It's thanks to them that it's as long as it is.

"You are just a  _ magnet _ for trouble, aren't you?"

Five's voice is almost a growl, but he hardly sounds angry. More... amused and exasperated and just a  _ little _ turned on. Although that last one is hard to miss, given how close he's pressed against her.

"Calling  _ that _ trouble is giving him too much credit."

Ben's voice, soft and sweet and almost laughing stands in contrast, his body pressed up just as close, a warm line against her back, his arms wrapping around her waist while Five's hands curl around her hips. And it's not like she  _ means _ to.

Ben had said once, when she had wondered why certain people seemed drawn to her, that she radiates sunshine and it is natural that people wish to come warm themselves in her company. At the time, Five, who has little poetry in his soul (little poetry, but so so so much love) had rolled his eyes and replied "Hargreeves tried to turn her into a doormat and they want a victim. But they're not going to get one." before he dipped to press a kiss to her cheek.

Either way, a certain sort of man had a habit of dropping into her orbit and just... staying, until Ben and Five finally drove him off.

  
Ben and Five, because that certain sort of man never listened when  _ she _ told them to get lost.

Case in point. She'd been dancing by herself, enjoying the lack of congestion on the dance floor and momentarily unselfconscious of her lack of rhythm in face of whatever energetic song was coming from the speakers. Normally she'd have had at least one of them for company but she'd had a brightly colored something and wanted to _move_ , so while Five got more drinks and Ben watched their things at the booth, she'd done just that. And then some guy had gotten _way_ too close and whisper-shouted something in her ear about how hot she was and how she should let him buy her a drink. And she'd told him 'no thanks' and 'I'm here with my boyfriends' and 'can you please not grab me' (because Five or no Five, Reginald Hargreeves had done a number on her psyche) and he _hadn't listened_ and hadn't backed off, just kept talking and trying to insist that he was nice and she should give him a chance. Until Five had appeared in front of her, ready to glare at him and Ben had grabbed his shoulder and twisted him away in one fluid motion, taking his place and putting her safely between the two people she trusted most.

It was _annoying_ really, even if she understood. Who was going to listen to a five foot nothing woman telling them to back the fuck off? But both Ben and Five radiated 'Listen to me' (admittedly, in very different ways) and Reginald had done a number on them too in the end. It said something about how resilient they had both been that violence wasn't their solution to things more often than it already was. Umbrella tattoos or no, it wasn't the man who'd bought them who'd won in the end though, now was it?

"If I'm a magnet for trouble, guess I'm lucky you two are here to get me out of it, right?"

She's _exactly_ tipsy enough to roll her hips and grin while she says it, trying to recapture the fun she'd been having before and the noises Five and Ben make are ample reward. She tunes out everything else then, beyond the music filling the air and the easy way their bodies move together (Five preferred classical music to what could be found in clubs, but he never turned down a chance to get handsy in public and Ben loved dancing with her, to whatever happened to be on. And she... she wasn't very good at it, not really. But neither of them had ever minded) until they're back at the booth and she can safely sip her drink and giggle when Five and Ben start bickering from either side of her about the relative merits of staying vs going back to the apartment they've rented for the summer.

Because in the end, it doesn't matter what the world throws at her. She's not alone in dealing with it. Reginald Hargreeves hadn't wanted to include her in the Umbrella Academy. But that didn't matter when the two people she loved decided she was worth choosing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Now on to the next chapter: featuring human shaped disasters, Nice Guys and Why Vanya Transferred Schools The First Time


End file.
